Global Blue Becomes Majority Shareholder of Yocuda, a Leading and Fast-growing Digital Receipt Provider

Global Blue (NYSE:GB) has announced today the acquisition of 56% of Yocuda, a leading digital receipt provider. The investment was facilitated by Global Blue Ventures and will allow Global Blue to expand its RetailTech offering and advance its ambition to become the strategic omnichannel partner empowering retailers to improve their performance.

Yocuda’s leading digital receipt technology meets the evolving needs of physical retailers

Yocuda’s innovations meet retailer demand to understand and engage with their customers. Its solutions enable retailers to send content-rich, personalised digital receipts to each customer, based on who they are and what they’ve purchased.

Customer details are captured at point-of-sale and the digital receipt is sent as soon as the transaction is processed, meaning retailers can engage with their customers at the time it will be most impactful. Digital receipts enjoy up to 75% open rates and hence are proven as a communications channel that customers engage with. They are also used to drive additional sales with targeted offers, product recommendations and the promotion of new collections or products and to enhance customer satisfaction by collecting customer feedback via surveys, ratings or reviews or by offering additional services like appointments, repairs, tips, advice or product care information.

Yocuda’s technology can be easily integrated with existing retailer solutions such as brand loyalty programmes, customer relationship management (CRM) databases, clienteling products, marketing platforms, business intelligence tools and customer data platforms (CDP).

Finally, Yocuda’s value proposition can support Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) frameworks that seek to provide more transparency and eliminate the need to generate paper. In addition, it can help retailers respond to changing local regulations, such as those in France where the Government has recently announced plans to ban the automatic printing of paper receipts from January 2023.

Leading British retail companies including Marks & Spencer and Argos have already partnered with Yocuda. Since being founded in the UK in 2011, it has processed over 1.3 billion electronic receipts for over 117 million unique customers and 42 million repeat customers.

Yocuda joins Global Blue’s network of RetailTech partners to support its omnichannel expansion

The stake in Yocuda was facilitated by Global Blue Ventures, the new entity created by Global Blue focused on investment in or partnership with third parties that offer best-in-class RetailTech innovations.

Thanks to the acquisition of Yocuda, Global Blue will enrich its portfolio of solutions to offer its existing clients omnichannel solutions in line with their evolving needs. For Yocuda, Global Blue’s worldwide infrastructure and point-of-sale network will facilitate rapid geographical expansion across Europe and Asia.

Beyond the upcoming sales synergies, the new technological developments will represent a strong new product pipeline allowing new business development and cross-sell opportunities.

Global Blue becomes the majority owner of Yocuda, with a stake of 56%

Global Blue has increased its share in Yocuda to 56.3%, making it the majority shareholder. This comprised an initial stake acquired in October 2019, followed by a further investment and a capital raise in September 2021.

Tomas Mostany, SVP Strategy and Chief Product Officer at Global Blue, commented:

“We are very pleased to welcome Yocuda into our RetailTech network. With our highly complementary businesses and products, we are looking forward to working alongside Yocuda to bring more valuable innovation to the market and continue our ambition to be the strategic omnichannel technology and payments partner empowering merchants to improve their performance.”

Edward Drax, Managing Director at Yocuda, added:

“We are delighted to have extended our partnership with Global Blue. With Global Blue’s retailers, contacts and resources, we will be able to accelerate Yocuda’s global growth and product roadmap. The synergies between the two companies’ solutions present a significant opportunity to offer retailers more of the technologies that they are looking for and to do so from one provider. We are looking forward to working with Global Blue in new and existing markets and to providing ever more sophisticated and useful products to retailers and their customers.”

ABOUT GLOBAL BLUE

Global Blue pioneered the concept of Tax Free Shopping 40 years ago. Through continuous innovation, it has become the leading strategic technology and payments partner, empowering merchants to capture the growth of international shoppers.

The Group connects all stakeholders involved in the international shopping ecosystem, helping:

• More than 29 million international shoppers receive a seamless and personalised shopping experience, enabling them to claim back the VAT on their eligible purchases when they shop abroad and to pay in their home currency at a guaranteed best rate,
• More than 300,000 points of sale, including leading department stores and luxury brands, identify growth opportunities through smart data and intelligence solutions, increase footfall through data-driven marketing solutions and convert traffic into merchant revenue through innovative in-store technologies,
• More than 50 acquirers, at around 130,000 points of interaction, benefit from additional revenue streams and offer merchants and travellers Dynamic Currency Conversion options and other Added-Value Payment Solutions,
• Customs & authorities in more than 40 countries increase country attractiveness and ensure a secure and compliant Tax Free Shopping scheme.

Pre-covid figures

Global Blue is listed on the NYSE under the ticker [GB].

For more information, visit http://www.globalblue.com/corporate/

¹ Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance

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